A tiny tree-dwelling reptile from the Triassic has ruffled the feathers of the paleontological community, challenging everything we thought we knew about pre-dinosaur evolution.
The newly discovered prehistoric reptile, Mirasaura grauvogeli, was found to possess unusual structures resembling feathers—yet entirely distinct from those of birds or dinosaurs—dating back more than one hundred million years before the first flying dinosaurs, according to a new paper.
The small, six-inch-long reptile exhibited a curious combination of features: clutching feet like a monkey, a narrow birdlike skull, a prehensile tail, and a row of faux feathers along its back. It likely perched in treetops around 247 million years ago. The discovery also resolves a decades-old mystery surrounding a Soviet-era fossil.
Almost Feathers
Feathers and fur are complex structures with diverse functions. They can help animals sense their surroundings, communicate through visual displays, regulate body temperature, and even enable flight. These features have long been considered exclusive to bird and mammal lineages.
Claws, horns, nails, and hair fall into a category known as integumentary appendages—structures that grow from the skin. According to paleontologists’ analysis of the new fossils, such features may have been far more common in ancient times than previously thought.
“I’m stunned and flabbergasted,” Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the study, told National Geographic. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been so blown away by a new fossil discovery.”
“There was always a distinction made between feathered dinosaurs and scaly reptiles,” says co-author Stephan Spiekman, a paleontologist at the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Germany. “And that’s too black and white of a story.”
Mirasaura Grauvogeli
Private collector Louis Grauvogel first uncovered the fossils in May 1939 from Triassic-era rock quarries in France. He initially believed the later-identified plumes were fish fins or insect wings combined with a reptile skeleton. Eighty years later, the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History acquired Grauvogel’s collection. During examination, a researcher noticed faint ribs at the base of the crest, prompting a more detailed investigation. As the surrounding rock was carefully removed, it became clear that the skull, neck, and torso belonged to the same animal as the plume—contrary to Grauvogel’s original assumption that they were from separate organisms.
At the end of the study, over 80 plumes were identified. In honor of the man who first collected the fossils, the team named the creature Mirasaura grauvogeli, translating as “Grauvogel’s miraculous reptile,” and placed it in the category of tree-dwelling reptiles known as drepanosaurs. The team suspects that the fossils showcase young Mirasaura, and that adults may have exceeded a foot in length.
“To me, the closest analogue is a pygmy anteater,” Spiekman says.
Longisquama
In 1970, a strange reptile with feather-like structures was described in a Russian paleontology paper after being discovered in Kyrgyzstan. At the time, some paleontologists used the find to challenge the emerging theory that birds descended from dinosaurs. However, over the following decades, mounting fossil evidence strengthened the evolutionary connection between birds and theropod dinosaurs, with some specimens even showing feathers on dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
Since then, Longisquama has remained an evolutionary puzzle. But the discovery of Mirasaura may offer new context, suggesting that Longisquama was also a type of drepanosaur.
Mirasaura Grauvogeli and Feather Evolution
The crests found on both Mirasaura and Longisquama were likely composed of keratin—the same structural protein found in feathers, hair, nails, and scales. These crests projected outward from the body and likely felt similar to feathers. Preserved melanosomes, which provide pigment, were more similar to those found in bird feathers than in mammalian hair or reptilian scales. Despite the similarities, the crests differed in one crucial way: rather than forming the branched structure typical of feathers, the keratin filaments formed a single sheet surrounding a central ridge.
“What we have here is a remarkable example of convergent evolution, maybe the most stunning one I’ve ever seen,” says Brusatte. “They were not bird mimics. It was birds that mimicked them.”
Drepanosaurs have a great deal to add to understanding reptile evolution. Their split from the reptile family much before birds, crocodiles, and modern lizards indicates that the integumentary appendages were an early development among vertebrates. While only two species of the crested reptiles are known, paleontologists are hopeful to increase their understanding of these creatures with more specimens in the future.
The paper “Triassic Diapsid Shows Early Diversification of Skin Appendages in Reptiles” appeared on July 23, 2025, in Nature.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.